Mall of America
Why is it so amazing?
The Mall of America is very interesting and amazing to study not only because of its unique architecture, but its massive size with over 500 stores makes it an insanely popular landmark for people to visit around the world. Taking a deeper look into why the Mall of America attracts so many people, it is specifically designed to make people stay longer in the mall and spend more money. Each store is picked to be in a certain spot in order to make people go to nearby ones, in turn, making people stay longer and spending more money. Many people who go to the mall are unaware of these tactics used by the creators of the Mall of America, and this is why I made this story map to show you different ways that shoppers can be deceived.
This first picture is showing you that the stores that are similar are going to be next to each other. Under Amour, Tommy Bahama, and Nike (down and to the right) are all seen in this picture. This allows for more shopping from the customers by them seeing similar clothing items in the next store over.
Implementing nature like items inside the store will make people more comfortable and less likely to feel contained inside a box. Having them under a skylight will let the sun shine in, adding to this effect.
Having updated features in the store will give the customers a feeling that the mall is not old and gross feeling. As you can see by the trash can off to the left, we don't really think of it as a stinky trash can that makes the mall feel dirty. This is another tactic that makes people want to come back.
These twinkle lights also add to the atmosphere of the mall and makes people feel more comfortable as they walk around.
Taking a look inside the stores, we can see that in this Abercrombie is designed that once you walk in, you are unable to leave until you have made a circle around the front of the store. This will make customers walk past most of their merchandise before finally deciding to not purchase anything. This tactic is used to make customers stay inside the store as long as possible.
Altar'd state designed their store to have the checkout line be in the very back. This will make customers walk past all their merchandise going to and from the checkout, even if they have one item. Again, making customers see all the clothing before finally deciding to leave.
The candy store IT'SUGAR uses bright colors and displays of candy up front to attract people, primarily kids, inside their store. I personally like this store the most because the use of the colors and pictures around the store will make you stop in front of / enter the store to see what its all about.
This last picture is a shot outside of IT'SUGAR. I took this picture because if you notice, there are two large sets of windows looking out from the store. I believe these windows were specifically put here to look out into Nickelodeon Universe. I think that once the store has attracted in young kids (or any customers) because of the candy, they will then look out the windows to see all the fun rides and stores in Nickelodeon Universe and will want to go there next. In turn, making the parents / shoppers spend more money + more time at the mall.
In conclusion, I believe that people should be aware of these tactics used by the mall and to look at why they like going there if it is because they have fun, or if the mall is deceiving you to spend more time there. Like the examples I provided above, these are just some of the ways we get deceived into thinking that the mall is a spectacular place to go to and why we are wanting to spend money there. The mall isn't some random place built to have stores next to each other, it is a business in itself designed to take money from the people coming into the mall.
